Manager & Coach Notes: Valentine, Riggleman, D’Backs

While some teams continue looking for their new manager, other clubs are settling their 2011 coaching staffs. Here's a collection of news items about both searches…

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com (Twitter link) "keeps hearing" that Bobby Valentine is one of the finalists to be the next Brewers manager, though Rosenthal wonders if Valentine would take the job and if Milwaukee could afford him. We heard yesterday that the Brewers had narrowed their search to four men, two of whom were Joey Cora and Bob Melvin and one of whom was suspected to be Ron Roenicke. Valentine could be the mystery fourth man.

Jim Riggleman will manage the Nationals next season, according to a team press release. The move was widely expected given Washington's 10-win improvement (from 59 wins to 69) in Riggleman's first full season as the team's skipper. The Nats could have fired Riggleman and paid him a $100K buyout, according to Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post, rather than be on the hook for his full 2011 salary. The team also has an option on Riggleman for 2012.

Arizona announced the hirings of Alan Trammell the new bench coach and Charles Nagy as the new pitching coach in a team press release. The D'Backs also confirmed the hirings of Don Baylor and Eric Young as the hitting and first base coaches, respectively.

Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune tweets that with Trammell leaving the Cubs for the Diamondbacks, there is a "door open" for Pat Listach to become his friend Mike Quade's bench coach in Chicago. We heard today from ESPNChicago.com that Ryne Sandberg (a top contender for the Cubs' managerial job) wouldn't be staying with the Cubs as Quade's bench coach.

It sounds like something of a stock "never say never" answer, but Ozzie Guillen sounded open to the possibility of hiring Sandberg as the White Sox bench coach should Joey Cora become Milwaukee's manager. Guillen made the remarks on WSCR-AM 670's "Mully & Hanley Show," and the news was reported by the Chicago Tribune.

Fredi Gonzalez will bring back his old Marlins bench coach Carlos Tosca for the same job in Atlanta, reports David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Also, former Florida hitting coach Jim Presley is "a finalist" to take over as the Braves' hitting coach.

i don’t think so. i’ve seen it at the games. i have heard the “hawk” talk about it on sports radio down here. a hall of famer talking about someone in his organization is someone i’ll believe over speculation.

Hanley can have all the ego he wants as long as he doesn’t do what he did that one time. “Ego” has a minimal effect on a clubhouse unless its to the extent of: a) dogging it all the time or b) being Milton Bradley

How cool is it that the Diamondbacks have Gibson, Trammel, Young, Baylor, and Nagy on the field throughout 162 games? I want to be a Arizona Diamondback! At this point they should at least replace Youngblood with someone like Tino Martinez.

I tend to think managers mean less than people think, and teams will tend to be as good as the players are, as long as the manager doesn’t completely mismanage the pitching staff (i.e. Dusty Baker). That being said, I think Quade can only do so much on a team in a situation like the Cubs. I actually like the guy as a manager, but he was obviously a hire made by the Cubs that was a low-risk hire, and if they do not succeed, which is probable, he can be let go after his contract expires in 2012.

Hiring Quade didnt carry as much sizzle as their last 2 hires Baker and Piniella. However i think that he is being set up to fail. This is a team that will likely be much the same in 2011 as it was in 2010. Barring any trades of their higher priced guys (extremely unlikely) they will have pretty much the same lineup as what they ended the year with.

Colvin will likely be given a shot as a first baseman unless they can move Fukudome.
Zambrano will be back because i dont see teams jumping at the chance to bring in that contract based on 2 good months.

Quade feels like a guy that will be replaced in 2 years when some of the contracts come off the books, Kosuke and Silva after 2011 and Zambrano, Ramirez, Dempster and Byrd after 2012.
If they have down years this year and next waiting for contracts to expire Quade will go and no one will care.
If they had hired a “name” especially Sandberg they would have to toss him out before 2013 too.
Not one person ive talked to thinks of Quade as a long term solution. More of a 2 yr keep the seat warm for a big name guy in 2013 when they have the money to spend on FA and trades.

I can see sandberg managing the team when quade falls short of the expectations of the ricketts family without eating a pinella sized contract. In 2 years the cubs will start rebuilding and sandberg would be great at the helm for da cubs term length like bobby cox had with atlanta.
With that said sandberg was my favorite alltime player and I sure hope that he doesnt flop when he gets his chance with the cubbies manager job.

If he can’t land a managerial job, feel like the Sox would be good job for Sandberg. It would give him a chance to be surrounded by veteran coaches, and would not have the same effects as he would with the Cubs on the fans, as in fans clamoring to let the legend be the manager. Were he to be hired by the Cubs, he would make Quade’s job unfair, as if anything goes wrong the pressure would be on the Cubs to promote him, while on the Sox (or any other club) he could just do his job.

I really wanted Don “The DONG” Baylor to be the Braves new hitting coach… At this point I guess anything would be better than TP. Although, I do think Terry Pendleton could be a decent manager at some point.

Attanasio is a billionaire. I think he can afford Bobby V. Besides, the tweet only asked whether they would pay him, it didn’t suggest that they couldn’t afford him. Maybe the Chicago condescension sneaking in there?

Didn’t the Cubs go bankrupt? Do the cubs need to shed payroll in order to afford plumbing at Wrigley? Do the cubs have enough money to pay Carlos Zambrano to keep eating innings and deep dish pizzas? Doubtful.